An old friend

It’s been so long since I played Terraria for the first time. I still remember the older, less polished sprites, simpler overworld, only one evil biome, and Skeletron being the last boss in the game.

A lot of changed and got added since then. To think how far this game has come, being almost 15 years old as of now and still receiving updates (FOR FREE). Not many games can pride themselves for being this cared for. And no matter how much time passes, I still come back to Terraria; this is my nostalgia trip, my go-to game, my cozy escape from everyday’s troubles.

The update 1.4.5 definitely caught my eye, and I was eager to play it as soon as possible, although I have my good share of video games backlog. Final push was my friend who - without asking - just told me “we’re playing Terraria”. Can’t say no to such bold statement!

and it was me who introduced him to Terraria in the first place!

The playthrough

I didn’t do anything too crazy, just some cozy, laid-back Expert mode, to stretch my rusty Terraria muscles. Last time I played was after the Journey’s End update released, so I needed a moment to remember few things.

The beginning was slow as always, up until I got few accessories that ease the exploration. After that it was smooth sailing through caverns and biomes to gather resources and power up with weapons and armor. Usually all it takes is a Cloud in a Bottle and some grappling hook to feel like I can actually navigate in this game.

Taking things slow

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t like rushing bosses. I’ve played so many times now that I have this constant feeling that I don’t want to rush into Hardmode. Because Hardmode feels like I am past half of the game, and I’m only coming closer and closer to end game. And after end game, what else is there to do? Because of it I choose to enjoy playing this game reaaaaaally slow, and have fun with other activities you can do. Since my friend called dibs on fishing quests, I was left with grinding loot from non-boss enemies. Getting all available accessories for future Ankh Shield was time-consuming, but fun nonetheless!

Class

This time I decided I will go with my least played damage class, which is Magic. I don’t know why, but it just doesn’t feel as fun to me as other classes. It’s like Range but you can’t keep shooting or else you quickly run out of mana and have to wait to recharge. And while Range is limited by the amount of ammo, the resources to craft it are almost never an issue anyway. I can wholeheartedly agree though that Magic Missile and similar are awfully fun to use!

Nonetheless, playing the magic class was fun and fresh to me and I have no regrets of sticking to it. I think my favorite magic weapons are Gray Zapinator, Rainbow Rod, and Night Glow.

Gray Zapinator is fun, especially when one of its projectiles reaches my friend who’s fishing on the other side of the map. Now that is magic!

The Base

This time I went for a house with big wizard tower to the side.

I was in charge of building the spawn base, as usual. I don’t think too much about it, I just start with the main hall at ground floor that will be used the most, and then start adding little room-boxes here and there, without much thought. I like it that way, as it makes the base look more organic, imperfect. It is also an evolving process - since at the start I have limited amount of resources, I just build overall shape of the base with plain wood. Later, when I finally get some more blocks variety, I replace them. I like making each room with different materials, and I really like how as I progress through the game, I decorate the base with more trinkets looted from bosses.

This time I didn’t spend as much time building stuff as I used to, though. Probably because I took this world as a warm up for something more challenging. Maybe I will show some of my builds from previous worlds in the future.

Bigger & Boulder

I must say, this is a very nice update. The new crafting window is very comfortable to use (except for Banners section - I hope they add a search bar or something. It’s difficult to find the one you are looking for in the sea of colorful banners!). And summoner got more equipment variety. Before you only had few choices to go with for very long periods of the game. Now you’re progressing through more variety of gear much quicker, so you don’t feel like you’ve been using the exact same gear for 3 bosses in a row now.

Another great feature is new mounts, especially THE ROLLER SKATES. I love these things!!! It feels sooooo good to travel without having to press direction button all the time. And they are amazing for building sky/hell bridges, or anything horizontal. Other mounts are also great, I find Cursed Piper Flute charming and adorable, being able to turn into a tiny squeaky mouse/rat. But I’m sorry cute rat - roller skates are not coming off!

Squeak! >^.^<

Next up, the Torch God’ Flavor - a consumable that makes torches nearby switch to the proper biome they’re placed at. And it works around the player for limited time, meaning you can just go exploring and the torches will change around you. It’s certainly useful after entering Hardmode and having some previous biomes become corrupted/hallowed to mass switch the torches there to the new biome.

Lastly, before this blog post becomes listing of patch notes, I was positively surprised by the items that change player’s hurt sound. It was very silly to bark at stuff that hurt me!

Last thoughts

Up next me and my friend are probably going to challenge ourselves with For The Worthy on Expert. This will be my first time playing any special world seed, actually!. I’m sure it won’t be as difficult as Calamity…

For the class I think I will go either as Yoyo Melee (since there are new recipes for accessories), or Range (it used to be my favorite one until Summoner showed up). We will see!

Until next time!